Britain's Vaccine Minister Urges Caution Regarding Reopening

Britain's COVID-19 vaccines minister urged caution Friday regarding the planned full reopening of the nation later this month, speaking the same day the number of new cases spiked in the nation — 90 percent of which were the highly transmissible delta variant.

According to the COVID-19 road map laid out by Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government, all pandemic-related restrictions are scheduled to be lifted June 21, one week from Monday. But in an interview Friday, England's COVID-19 vaccines minister, Nadhim Zahawi, told Times Radio the nation must be very careful about the opening given the dominance of the delta variant, originally identified in India. His comments came as the government reported 8,125 new COVID-19 cases, the highest daily total since February, and that daily transmission rates also were higher. Zahawi said the government should examine the data from this coming weekend very carefully and share it with the nation, and then decide about reopening.